In a recent write-up titled "Who are the real Indians?" Supreme Court ex-Judge Markandey Katju is all praise for Keralites, who he said were "hard working, modest, and intelligent."
Considering he has worked all over India, Katju said that he regards Kerala as the real India as it represents a microcosm of the country. "India is broadly a country of immigrants. the essential quality of Kerala is its openness to external influence--Dravidians, Aryans, Romans, Arabs, British, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Marxists, etc," he wrote.
He also described the origin of each religion in the South Indian state and added that the Kerala Christians belong to the oldest Christian group outside Palestine, while Jews settled down in Kochi when they were persecuted by the Romans after demolition of their temple in 72 A.D. However, Islam is believed to have come to Kerala through traders, and the people belonging to scheduled castes in the state are said to have faced less discrimination compared to others in the country due to Sree Narayan Guru. He also points out that it was Adi Shankaracharya, who established the four well known centres of Hinduism, Sringeri in the South, Puri in the East, Dwarka in the West, and Jyotirmath in the North.
"Kerala has produced great artists, mathematicians ( the great mathematician Aryabhatta is said to be from Kerala ), martial arts, handicrafts. enlightened Kings, and sages, etc. Keralites are great travellers, and everywhere in the globe one will find Keralites," he noted. Katju also shared a well-known joke of Neil Armstrong getting welcomed by a Malayali tea-seller when he landed on the moon in 1969.
According to Katju, Keralites are found in every nook and corner of the world. Be it in Dubai, Qatar or Bahrain, Keralites are in majority than the local Arabs. "When I was a University student and lawyer in Allahabad I would often go to the Coffee House. I found that most of the waiters there were Keralites, and I became friends with many of them. In many hospitals in India and abroad the nurses are Keralites. I believe there is no illiteracy in Kerala," he wrote in the post.
Katju concluded the write-up saying that all Indians must learn a lot from Malayalis. "Keralites are hard working, modest, and intelligent. They are broad minded, liberal, cosmopolitan and secular in their views ( though no doubt there are a few exceptions ). All Indians must learn from them. Long live the Keralites," he concluded.
Katju has also shared the write-up on his Facebook page, which has gone viral with more than 15,000 shares and 24,000 'likes' in 17 hours. Kozhikode Collector Prasanth Nair IAS has also commented on the post quoting Lord Lettitglow: "Kerala is God's own country but is infested with lots of malayalees."
Read the full Facebook post of Katju here:
